Zurich and Tokyo top expensive city list

Expats in Europe and Asia are spending a lot of money to live in the world’s most desirable cities, with Zurich and Tokyo topping the tables of expat costs, according to a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Zurich has this year usurped last year’s most expensive city, Tokyo, in to second place.
The survey examines prices for everyday expenses including food, transportation, utilities, private schools and household help.

Cities are ranked via a scoring system, Zurich amassed 170 and Tokyo 166, the highest out of all the ranked cities.

The top ten was dominated by Europe and Asia – Geneva and Osaka-Kobe, Japan, were joint third, while Oslo, Paris, Frankfurt, Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore completed the rest of the top ten.

Surprisingly, New York charted at 47, while London tied with Brussels, Wellington and Adelaide at 17th.

Inflation and currency exchange rate fluctuations were cited as the two main factors contributing to the shift in positions.

Demonstrating the shift, the report stated that Singapore was 2 percent cheaper to live in than New York only a decade ago. Now, Singapore ranks 9th and is 42% more expensive than New York.